Monday, 30 May 2016

I've been quiet lately because I've been in Tokyo for three weeks. In the meantime, a couple of my articles have been accepted for publication

'"Extreme” Porn?: The Implications of a Label' is forthcoming in Porn Studies. Here is the abstract:

Despite its prevalence, the term “extreme” has received little critical attention. “Extremity” is routinely employed in ways that imply its meanings are self-evident. However, the adjective itself offers no such clarity. This article focuses on one particular use of the term – “extreme porn” – in order to illustrate a broader set of concerns about the pitfalls of labelling. The label “extreme” is typically employed as a substitute for engaging with the term’s’ supposed referents (here, pornographic content). In its contemporary usage, “extreme” primarily refers to a set of context-dependent judgements rather than absolute standards or any specific properties the “extreme” item is alleged to have. Concurrently then, the label “extreme” carries a host of implicit values, and the presumption that the term’s meanings are “obvious” obfuscates those values. In the case of “extreme porn,” that obfuscation is significant because it has facilitated the cultural and legal suppression of pornography.

'Preserved for Posterity?: Present-Bias and the Status of Grindhouse Films in the "Home Cinema" Era' is forthcoming in the Journal of Film and Video. Here is the abstract:

Despite the closure of virtually all original grindhouse cinemas, ‘grindhouse’ lives on as a conceptual term. This article contends that the prevailing conceptualization of ‘grindhouse’ is problematized by a widening gap between the original grindhouse context (‘past’) and the DVD/home-viewing context (present). Despite fans’ and filmmakers’ desire to preserve this part of exploitation cinema history, the world of the grindhouse is now little more than a blurry set of tall-tales and faded phenomenal experiences, which are subject to present-bias. The continuing usefulness of grindhouse-qua-concept requires that one should pay heed to the contemporary contexts in which ‘grindhouse’ is evoked